Tales From The Book Dragon

Good Evening, my Dragons, This evening’s Gem was fashioned in the fire, blood, sweat and tears of a Nestling. It was a hard won battle and is, therefore a hard story to read.

David Crow’s memoir of his childhood will make your scales shake with anger and wish, at times you could travel back in time to use your flames for good towards evil.

David Crow tried to be all his father wanted, first out of love and then, out of fear. David tried to do what so many little boys do and cannot… protect those he loved from harm and when he couldn’t he blamed himself…but do not think his story is all bleak for this is not a Gothic novel.

David Crow’s memoir, A Pale Faced Lie also carries hope and love. Read it for yourself and soon and you, too, shall see that amids the lies, the hate, the hurt, all the time there was always hope. And the power of Forgiveness.

Hello My Fellow Book Dragons, Today our Gem is not a book but is an Oddity I have followed for sometime. It started as a series of stories one could read on YouTube and then could watch and listen to. Historical creepiness, the macabre, the weird, those little things outside the norm that make life more interesting. Here are true crimes, ghost stories, historical figures society maidens and more.

The man behind Obsolete Oddities is a bit of a mystery himself. He does post short films of trips he takes and stories of his own odd moments. If you like reading and listening about the roads less travelled, the paths not taken, the sadder, seamier side of life this is for you.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ObsoleteOddity

Until tomorrow. Yours, Book Dragon

Tea Time, Book Dragons..I’m having a cuppa Irish Breakfast..so good for relaxing after a long day of polishing my scales……. today’s Gem is Kate Carlisle’s Eaves of Destruction, a Fixer Upper Mystery.

From the beautiful cover to the last period, this cozy little mystery delivers a load of entertainment. Set in small town Lighthouse Cove, before the big Home Show, our heroine, Shannon Hammer is the best and busiest contractor in town. The last thing she needs is a distraction, what with picky Petsy Jorgensen determined to get Best in Show by breathing down her neck on every detail, but a distraction she gets, in the form of murder. This is where you better have the teapot full and a plate of cakes and sandwiches, because you aren’t going to want any distractions yourself.

From sweet friends, to a young woman searching for answers, from shady characters, to a Thriller Author boyfriend, Shannon has her hands full and takes us along for the ride.

Get your thinking caps on and see if you can solve this one before Shannon does. And then read the rest of the series! Until tomorrow, enjoy this perfectly constructed mystery.

I received this book for an honest review.

Hello My Friends, I hope your Sunday was restful. I have a true Gem for you today, a Diamond. Corrie tenBoom (with John and Elizabeth Sherrill) wrote her memoir The Hiding Place and gave the world a gift. This is the story of her family’s struggles and triumphs during the Nazi Occupation. In Amsterdam Anne Frank was also going through her own struggles.

Corrie’s family were hardworking, simple people, kind and compassionate. She and her sister were middle aged spinsters, living with their father, a well respected watchmaker and repairer. Upon the Nazi Occupation, they became heroines, their family heroes.

Her true story takes us from that watch shop to a Nazi concentration camp and twists and turns to a bittersweet ending. In Corrie’s telling, we find subjects as relevant today as then: facing loss, heart break, forgiveness of the unforgivable, dealing with upheaval, hateful people, holding on to faith when all else seems lost, hope in a hopeless circumstance and being used by Our Creator when we think we are too old, too weak, too far gone.

This story must be told over and over..once you have read it (and this is a must read), pass it along to someone else who needs it. They will thank you. May your Monday be easy.

I purchased this book myself.

Good evening Book Dragons, I am sorry I am late with today’s post. Something has irritated my sinuses and you know how dangerous that can be for us..one little sneeze and everything goes up in smoke. My Gem for you today is a tale that, while aimed at Nestlings, grabs the babe in big Dragons, too.

I read Jasmine Fogwell’s “An Unlikely Friendship: Book Ones of the Fidori Trilogy” with my grandnestlings..we took turns reading aloud to each other over cups of tea and a dish of cookies.

I must say the story of a young boy, James, whose parents move him back to his mother’s hometown did not excited them at first, they discounted the simple cover (Nestlings are so used to dazzle these days), but once past the first page we all became absorbed by this mix of Narnia and R.L. Stine, Potter and Tolkein.

Nemeste will surely make it’s mark and become as familiar as the Shire if parents introduce this to their young. James, the mysterious Rionzi Ducret, the Forest and it’s curiosities will have their day in the sun, if parents of magic, fairy tale, adventure loving children grant them this gift.

I would urge you to purchase this on Amazon or where available. If your Nestlings have tablets this would be a wonderful download. We were all disappointed when we had to stop reading for the day, and cannot wait for part two.

Until tomorrow, I bid you, as always, your Book Dragon.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Our Gem today is Ron Ripley’s Berkley Street. A fantastic ghost story that holds sadness, suspense and the macabre. I could not put it down and gorged myself on page after page of this scare packed Thriller.

Ripley’s characters are realistic, likeable, hateable and some are so frightening it’s felt as though I was in the room with them.

With a writing style reminiscent of master storyteller M.R. James, Ron Ripley pulls the reader in and having done so never lets go. I can’t wait to read the rest of this series.

Prepare to read this with extra lights on, or in the daylight..but whenever you read it, don’t sit near the pond. As for me, I’m heading for a nap, this was an all nighter. Available now on Amazon.

I received this book for free after signing up for a newsletter.

Fellow Dragons, thank you so much for all the support and feedback this week! Whether Book Devourer or Authors (you brave souls who feed we Dragons), I have appreciated you all! This is a dream come true – I feel like a Nestling on Christmas morning.

Now for our Gem. The Soul of An American President is a peek inside Dwight D. Eisenhower’s faith life. I really enjoyed reading this aspect of Eisenhower’s life. Having read his own work, At Ease, and several biographical works, I had never seen coverage of this aspect of his life.
Detailed in their coverage of Eisenhower’s religious heritage, his own faith walk and the events that shaped him, Sears and Osten did a good job of painting a picture of what kept the man centered. We understand why he became the 5th most popular president in American History. Had he not have been formed by his faith, we would not have seen the magnificent leadership, confidence and decision making that brought America out of WWII and into the the Fabulous ’50s.
I would have loved more detail in some areas, World War II is given rather short shrift, as are actual events in the Phillipines.
It is for this reason I can only give the book 4 Flames and not 5.
But it is well worth the read.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ahh..welcome back..today my Bookish Ones I have a special treat for you today. Today it’s art, but not the kind in museums..this artist used screenplays and storyboards and A-List Actors and Actresses.

Author Donald Spoto was extremely ambitious in his subject
matter when he took on Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock.
In The Art of Alfred Hitchcock he gives us an excellent view of a movie career that started in a small London Studio and ended in Hollywood. 
Starting with Hitchcock’s silent film days Spoto uses the artful
movie stills of Hitchcock himself to illustrate Hitchcock’s bio- graphy from birth through those early movie days. He lays bare
Hitchcock’s inspirations, aspirations and struggles to become, over the next 50 years, the Master of Film and Television Suspense.
Thirty-seven of Hitchcock’s films are covered in detailed back stories, that include quotes from those who worked with Hitch to those fantastic artsy, creepy angles and perfect close ups that made his films more than just a movie. Those films were absolute Suspense Gold. 
Names that no longer grace the Silver Screen are here, Hitchcock only worked with the best. In stunning black and white we see those brilliant beautiful stars. in many cases we see them before they were household names. 
Leslie Banks and Edna Best in 1934’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. Charles Laughton and a young, gorgeous new starlet in her first role – Maureen O’Hara in Jamaica Inn. Farley Granger and Robert Walker as two sophisticated Strangers on a Train that will turn into a murderous journey. All the way to the very last Hitchcock Masterpiece, 1976’s Family Plot with Bruce Dern and Katherine Helmond. Spoto was indeed ambitious in his choice of subject matter, but he pulls it off beautifully, creating the Must Have Book for Hitchcock’s devoted fans. 4 FLAMES
Until tomorrow my Tribe, may your Knights be tender, your Damsels sweet!

I purchased this book myself.

Hello Fellow Book Dragons,

I bring you today a book that can be read over a pot of tea in an afternoon. Another You celebrates the historical sacrifices of the men who served on D-Day while bringing to light the plight of the modern day soldier in the heart warming, sometimes gut-wrenching tale of Jane Cable’s heroine, Marie.
Marie’s own battle to find a way out of her current abusive situation for herself and her son was both captivating and at times irritating for this reader. I tend to get wrapped up in a really good story and found myself talking to this character more than once.She is strong, yet weakened by a medical condition that I’m sure you many of you Dragons will empathize with. The men in her life are a diverse group, especially the soldier with the Sea Horse Charm. He doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance…or does he? Make sure you’ve put the kettle on for this one..I read it in one long, rainy afternoon.